I realised that when I first wanted to create an interactive piece I was hoping to create some form of event, much like the work of Alexandre Bettler, but his work was just too present in my mind and I couldn't seem to knock down the metaphorical wall that was currently plastered in his work. So after devising my cup phone piece I wanted to follow through on the same path, creating simple interactive pieces.
Having already dealt with the spoken word I wanted to explore the written word. I had thought about letters and letterboxes before but I wanted something a little more unusual and playful. During a conversation with Steve we began to think of how prisoners used to try and communicate when locked up. This stumped me. I googled and googled but all I could find was things relating to the use of the prison telephone. I knew this wasn't what I wanted and I started to think about how they may have communicated in the past, perhaps holes in the walls just big enough to pass a message through, or maybe some form of knocking code. Steve later told me about a film he had seen where a man tied a note to a piece of string, carefully swung it out of his barred up windows to the next inmate.
I wasn't convinced that I wanted to use the swinging motion but I liked the idea of attaching messages to string, I thought why not create a pulley. Almost like a washing line you see hanging between the houses, a line that can be pulled in and out.
Rather than doing the pulley in between houses I thought to start it could go from my space in the studio to another students. I started thinking small going along the wall from my space to Vicky's (two spaces away from me). But once I started to talk about it with Steve I realised it should go further and ideally that I would like it to go across the room. The plan was that once the pulley was up we could begin to send messages to and from, therefore the other end would need to go to someone I naturally talk to a lot. And who would be more perfect than my best friend Tash. However there was a problem, we work in two different studios, with a wall separating us. This means that whenever I want to talk to her I either have to walk into the next room, which is annoying, or send her a text, which is sometimes pretty pointless since as we barely check our phones. If I could somehow find a way to connect a pulley travelling from my space to Tasha's we would actually find it rather useful! Steve was excited by this idea and since as there was plans for this separating wall to be knocked down next year he saw no reason to why I couldn't cut a hole through. This was now the plan.
Firstly Steve helped me to find the components to make a pulley. The first was easily found and was this device :
We wasn't too sure where this came from or what it was but it seemed perfect and came with a handle and moving wheel. The second pulley was harder to find, but we eventually found two of these :
These turned out to be parts used for bending pipes. These didn't move as they weren't a form of wheel but they would still work as they only had to hold the string. The person who's side this component was on would simply have to move the string by pulling the opposite string in the opposite way they wanted the message bearing string to move. Steve then helped me to assemble the pulley as this could have been slightly dangerous as we weren't quite sure how to fix them. We decide the best way would be to connect the pieces to a pieces of wood, making them the same height, we did this using hinges and large screws. Holding the pieces secure in a position which was safely away from the drill. Once both of the pulleys were connected we then attached these to a large plank of wood, this was need for installing the pulley. Once the pulley was made we quickly tested it.
Once the pulley was made we used a saw to cute a hole through the wall, large enough for the wood to fit through and in line with Tasha's wall. I then cut the plank of wood in half and attached one to my wall and one to Tasha's. With mine being close to the hole I decided that the heaviest pulley should go on my side, this way the wooden plank could rest on the inside of the wall, helping to keep it straight. To attach the pulleys I screwed pieces of wood into the walls, this helped the pulleys to stay in line. The plank of wood was then screwed onto this wood and the string was connected. The pulley was ready and I went through to my space to clean up where I was quickly greeted with this message from the other class.
Having already dealt with the spoken word I wanted to explore the written word. I had thought about letters and letterboxes before but I wanted something a little more unusual and playful. During a conversation with Steve we began to think of how prisoners used to try and communicate when locked up. This stumped me. I googled and googled but all I could find was things relating to the use of the prison telephone. I knew this wasn't what I wanted and I started to think about how they may have communicated in the past, perhaps holes in the walls just big enough to pass a message through, or maybe some form of knocking code. Steve later told me about a film he had seen where a man tied a note to a piece of string, carefully swung it out of his barred up windows to the next inmate.
I wasn't convinced that I wanted to use the swinging motion but I liked the idea of attaching messages to string, I thought why not create a pulley. Almost like a washing line you see hanging between the houses, a line that can be pulled in and out.
Rather than doing the pulley in between houses I thought to start it could go from my space in the studio to another students. I started thinking small going along the wall from my space to Vicky's (two spaces away from me). But once I started to talk about it with Steve I realised it should go further and ideally that I would like it to go across the room. The plan was that once the pulley was up we could begin to send messages to and from, therefore the other end would need to go to someone I naturally talk to a lot. And who would be more perfect than my best friend Tash. However there was a problem, we work in two different studios, with a wall separating us. This means that whenever I want to talk to her I either have to walk into the next room, which is annoying, or send her a text, which is sometimes pretty pointless since as we barely check our phones. If I could somehow find a way to connect a pulley travelling from my space to Tasha's we would actually find it rather useful! Steve was excited by this idea and since as there was plans for this separating wall to be knocked down next year he saw no reason to why I couldn't cut a hole through. This was now the plan.
Firstly Steve helped me to find the components to make a pulley. The first was easily found and was this device :
We wasn't too sure where this came from or what it was but it seemed perfect and came with a handle and moving wheel. The second pulley was harder to find, but we eventually found two of these :
These turned out to be parts used for bending pipes. These didn't move as they weren't a form of wheel but they would still work as they only had to hold the string. The person who's side this component was on would simply have to move the string by pulling the opposite string in the opposite way they wanted the message bearing string to move. Steve then helped me to assemble the pulley as this could have been slightly dangerous as we weren't quite sure how to fix them. We decide the best way would be to connect the pieces to a pieces of wood, making them the same height, we did this using hinges and large screws. Holding the pieces secure in a position which was safely away from the drill. Once both of the pulleys were connected we then attached these to a large plank of wood, this was need for installing the pulley. Once the pulley was made we quickly tested it.
Once the pulley was made we used a saw to cute a hole through the wall, large enough for the wood to fit through and in line with Tasha's wall. I then cut the plank of wood in half and attached one to my wall and one to Tasha's. With mine being close to the hole I decided that the heaviest pulley should go on my side, this way the wooden plank could rest on the inside of the wall, helping to keep it straight. To attach the pulleys I screwed pieces of wood into the walls, this helped the pulleys to stay in line. The plank of wood was then screwed onto this wood and the string was connected. The pulley was ready and I went through to my space to clean up where I was quickly greeted with this message from the other class.
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